Advent Begins!

So, we're off to a good start with Advent this year. Although it was a busy weekend making this cake on Friday:

and celebrating mister evangelist's birthday Friday night by going out for fantastic mexican food and then to Meghan Smith's concert, I managed to get the house tidied on Saturday in time for Saturday afternoon nap time when Isaac took a nap and Zoe helped me decorate the tree (Simon happily played on the computer uninterrupted). Decorating the tree was Advent Activity #1.

Advent Activity #2 was Watch a Christmas movie with popcorn. We chose two movies: "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and "A Charlie Brown Christmas." Two of my favorites.

Today's activity is making cinnamon dough ornaments. I used this recipe here, except I forgot to check it ahead of time and used pumpkin puree instead of applesauce because I'm out of applesauce. The dough is all made and ready for when the kids get home from school. My hands smell like cinnamon and soon our tree will, too!

Tomorrow is letters to Santa. I found some cute printable stationery to use that other bloggers have graciously provided. Here's the link. If you use Google image search you can find more Letter to Santa print-ables.

Remember when I posted this nifty little idea? Well, little did I know that rip-stop nylon is $16 a metre at Fabricland and when I was there last time it was one of the few fabrics that was not included in their sale at the time. So, no ripstop nylon for us. But today I was reading someone's blog and they mentioned oil cloth and I thought I remembered seeing something about making your own oil cloth. So, Google to the rescue and I found this handy little tutorial by Burda Style. It's a little different from the one I remember reading earlier. This is not an authentic oil cloth. I think authentic oil cloth is actually oiled many times over. But I think this could be a much cheaper option to buying rip stop nylon to line the other side of a pretty fabric bowl cover.

Resurrection Eggs

With Easter approaching, I was pleased to find these Resurrection Eggs, which you can easily make from some store-bought plastic eggs and sundries from around your home. Each egg is symbolic of part of the resurrection story.

Having not grown up in a very religious family, I don't have many traditions highlighting the real meaning of Easter, but I think this would be a great way to help tell the story of Easter and form a tradition in anticipation of our most important Christian holiday.

Easter Basket

I saw this on Sew Mama Sew today, and while I agree that it is an adorable flower girl basket, as intended, don't you think it would make a fabulous Easter Basket?

There's a tutorial there on how to make one.

Paper Portraits

I am a huge fan of Dude Craft. He finds the greatest stuff. And he shows us all that men can craft. Cool stuff, though.

He has a tutorial to make these stunning paper portraits, which I totally want to try out.

Yarn Christmas Trees

Back to the world of things I might actually make. I love these yarn trees! Pretty Ditty has a great tutorial on how you can make them yourself.

I subscribe to the Pretty Ditty blog, but I also saw these on Whip Up. I think I even have some leftover yarn that would be perfect for this project.

Oh, and on another note, will you take my poll for me? It's over there on the right. I'm wondering if you have a preference with how links open. Personally, I like them to open in a new window, but I have heard that people get confused when they get multiple windows opening.

Wrist Warmers

I love free patterns. If you are getting in the mood to make Christmas presents, now that it is mid-November, you should get on it. These cute wrist warmers would make a lovely little present. I can imagine wearing them in my office where my hands sometimes gets cold. I made some fingerless mittens which go halfway up my arms and I just couldn't figure out where I would wear them or what I would wear them with. They were super cute, but I'm just not sure I own anything funky enough to wear with them. Anyway, Creative Yarn has a free pattern for wrist warmers that are small and cute and would probably come together in a couple of evenings.

I thought of spoiling my daughter's pre-school teacher with a pair, though that might be a tad ambitious with the other gifts I am making this year.

Fabric covered clips

I think I might make these.

I've had this tutoriall as an open tab in my browser for a few days now. And so I don't forget about it, or at least so I can find it again, I'm going to put it here. You might like to try it, too. My daughter wears this kind of clip in her hair almost daily, since we've just about got her bangs grown out. They still fall in front of her face a lot if she doesn't have a barrette in.

The author of mairuru, where the tutorial comes from is from Japan and English is not her first language. She does really well, but there are some little language quirks that betray her second-language-ness. I love it and I don't think it gets in the way of her instructions. She has lots of good Japanese cuteness on her blog. You should check it out.

To make list: Crocheted Racetrack Rug

I found this great pattern a little while ago for a Crocheted Race Track. It's super sweet. I think my boy is getting old enough to be interested in it and I think it will make a good Christmas gift. It's hard to find good handmade ideas for boys! And I know: I have 7 nephews (and no nieces) and trying to keep costs down by going handmade is always a challenge.